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Citij Document, — A^o. 25, 



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luEVEllETT STREET JAIL. 




The following Report and Resolutions having 
been read, the Resolutions were passed to a second 
reading, laid on the table, and three hundred copies 
thereof and of said report and the accompanying 
presentment of the Grand Jury were ordered to be 
printed for the use of the present and next City 
Council. 

Attest, Richard G. Wait, CUrk C. C. 



M 



2 LEVERETT STREET JAIL. [Dec. 



In Common Council, January 14, 1841. 

Ordered, That so much of the Mayor's Address as 
relates " to the best disposition of the Court House, 
Jail and Land on Leverett Street" be referred to 
Messrs. Grant, Otis ahd Shipley with such as the 
Board of Aldermen may join, to consider and report. 

Sent up for concurrence. 

EDWARD BLAKE, President. 

In the Board of Aldermen, January 18, 1841. 
Read and concurred, and Aldermen Hunting and 
Leavitt were joined (and the Mayor afterwards ad- 
ded Sept. 13th.) 

JONA. CHAPMAN, Mayor, 



1841.] CITY DOCUMENT.—No. 25. 3 

Clerk^s Office of the Municipal Court of the City of 
Boston, September 9th, 1841. 

To The Mayor and Aldermen of the City of 

Boston. 
Gentlemen, 

I am directed by the Judge of the Municipal 
Court, to transmit to you the enclosed certified copy 
of a presentmerft, made to the Court by the Grand 
Jurors, at the present September Term. 

Very respectfully, yours, 

THOMAS W. PHILLIPS, 

Clerk of said Municipal Court. 

To THE Honorable Judge of the Municipal 

Court. 

The Grand Jury, in addition to the indictments 
found by them at this term, beg leave to present to 
the Court, that from facts and circumstances which 
have come to their knowledge, they are convinced of 
of and do present, as a great evil, which ought forth- 
with to be corrected, — The extreme facility of com- 
munication by word of mouth and by correspon- 
dence, between prisoners confined in the Leverett 
Street Jail. 

This communication is so easy and unrestricted, 
that no one in the cells or passages can avoid hear- 
ing obscene and profane language ; — it enables the 
profligate to corrupt the penitent ; encourages the 
young in the progress and arts of inicjuity ; facili- 
tates escapes, and matures plans for future crime. 



4 LEVERETT STREET JAIL. [Dec. 

This comnmcication, the Keeper of the Jail states 
he cannot prevent in the present edifice, and under 
the existing laws. He also states, that blankets, 
tools, letters, money, watches and stolen property of 
various kinds could be passed without his knowl- 
edge from one cell to another, through every cell in 
the building — or from one prisoner to another, with- 
out detection, to the great detriment of public jus- 
tice. 

Under these circumstances the Grand Jury feel 
it to be their duty to call the attention of this Court 
to this evil, as one of sufficient magnitude to require 
an early remedy and they respectfully request the 
Court to send to the Mayor and Aldermen a certi- 
fied copy of this presentment, that those whose duty 
it may be, may without delay, take the necessary 
measures to correct this evil. 

(Signed) ROBERT C. HOOPER, 

Foreman of the Grand Jury. 

Boston, September 8, 1841. 

A true copy of a presentment made to the Mu- 
nicipal Court of the City of Boston by the Grand 
Jurors, on the eighth day of September, A. D. eight- 
een hundred and forty one. 

Attest, 

THOMAS W. PHILLIPS, 

Clerk of said Court. 



1841,] CITY DOCUMENT— No. 25. 



In Cilij Council, December 16, 1841. 

The Joint Special Committee to whom was referred 
"so much of the Mayor's Address as relates to 
the Jail in Lcverett Street" and also the commu- 
nication from the Grand Jury upon the same sub- 
ject, — having considered the subject, ask leave to 

REPORT: 

That they do not deem it necessary to occupy 
any time in speaking of the character of the present 
Jail in this C'ity. They believe that all who have 
seen it, are united in the opinion, that in construct- 
ion, means of warming and ventilation, arrange- 
ments of every kind for the inmates, and indeed in 
every requisite for a pro})er Jail, it is unworthy the 
character of the City. That it should be presented 
by t!ie Grand Jury therefore, in the way it has been, 
is what might naturally be expected. 

Your Committee believe, however, that the de- 
sire has long been felt by successive City Councils 
to remedy the evil. Action has been delayed, not 
from want of feeling, but from perplexing doubts as 
to die best mode of action. There are two buildings 
for jails, a large Court House and Jailor's house, 
together with about forty-three thousand feet of 
land connected with the present establishment. The 
whole has cost much money. The land does not 
lie very advantageously for sale, and accordingly it 
has been very difficult to determine how ta dispose 
ot it. Then there have heretofore been questions 
as to the best plan of a new Jail ; and more trouble- 
some than all the rest, the question where a new Jail 



6 LEVERETT STREET JAIL. [Dec. 

shall be located, whether on the present site or at 
South Boston. 

These various questions have delayed action hith- 
erto, but the matter must sooner or later be met. 
Your Committee do not, of course, expect the pres- 
ent Council to enter upon the work. They wish 
only to submit their views, in hopes of procuring 
an expression of opinion from the present Council, 
so that the subject may be in the way of being taken 
up by the next Council, and the necessary arrange- 
ments made, if practicable, to enter upon the work 
as soon as spring opens. As no calls are anticipa- 
ted for public buildings during the next year, ex- 
cepting the usual number of Primary vSchool Houses, 
it would seem a favorable period for this undertak- 
ing. No want of the City is more pressing. 

Your Committee repeat that they take it for 
granted that every member of the Council is dissat- 
isfied with the present Jail and with the state of 
things about it, and would gladly have a thorough 
change made, if he could see his way clear. There 
appear to them, therefore, to be but three questions 
to be determined. 

1. As to tiie best plan of a Jail. 

2. As to its location, whether in Leverett Street 
or at South Boston. 

3. As to the best disposition to be made of the 
whole, or the part not wanted for the new Jail, of 
the present estate in f ^everett Street. 

And, first, as to the plan of a Jail, there can be 
now no difficulty. That which has been adopted in 
J^artfor(l and New Haven may well serve as a model. 
It has been thoroughly tested and is found to be ad- 
mirable in all respects. 'V\\q part for prisoners is 



1841.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 25. 7 

upon the plan of our House of Correction, only hav- 
ing the area between the cells and the outer walls 
of sufficient width to be a workshop, where the in- 
mates can be made to earn a part of the expense of 
the establishment, instead of being confined in idle- 
ness, as in our present Jail; a change, it may be re- 
marked, no less of true mercy to them, than of ben- 
efit to the City. The Jailor's house is connected 
with the prison and under the same roof, and so ar- 
ranged that the prisoners arc guarded and watched 
with the greatest facility. Plans very similar to the 
one now spoken of were made for the City some 
years since, and are now in its possession. Your 
Committee learn from those who have visited al- 
most all the Jails in the country, that nothing better 
than this plan can be found or desired. So far there- 
fore, as the subject of a plan is concerned, the City 
is ready to proceed. 

2. As to the location of the Jail, whether it shall 
be on the present site in Leverett Street, or at 
South Boston. 

However desirable in some respects it might be, 
to have the jail at South Boston, your Committee 
are satisfied upon a careful consideration of the mat- 
ter, and after consultation with those who must be 
most familiar with the subject, — that it is absolutely 
indispensable to have a lock up or place of secure 
confinement, within the limits of the City proper, 
and at least as near the courts at which preliminary 
examinations and trials are had, as the present jail 
in Leverett Street. 

Persons are arrested in the night and must be de- 
tained for examination at such times of the following 
day, as tlie business of the Court will allow. Trials 



8 LEVERETT STREET JAIL. [Dec. 

may be protracted for long periods. It has been as- 
certained that of the commitmenti to the present jail, 
three-eighths do not remain there more than one 
night, and five-eighths not over two nights. This 
shows how much more the jail is required for a 
temporary lockup than for a penitentiary for con- 
finement of persons under sentence. The delay of 
the Courts in conducting the examinations, and the 
delay and increased expenses of witnesses, if pri- 
soners arc to be sent to and from South Boston, 
would be very great. Prisoners who are await- 
ing trial r.re constantly needing the presence of 
their counsel and friends, and therefore must be 
near them. And the importance in a large city, of 
having close at hand, in case of a sudden riot or 
outbreak, a secure place of confinement, must be 
obvious to every one. The expense of continual 
transportation for such a distance as to South Bos- 
ton, and the attendant risk of rescue, are also matters 
to be taken into account. 

These necessities, it is believed, peremptorily re- 
quire, that there should be some lock up or jail 
in the City. As the persons in it must be fed, it 
would require a keeper, and in fact become a jad. 
And as it would be deemed a serious nuisance to 
have such an establishment in any way connected 
with a Court House or other building, — it is confi- 
dently behevcd, that an attempt to locate the jail at 
South Boston would ere long involve the necessity 
ol erecting and maintaining an additional one, with 
all its attendant circumstances, in the City proper. 

Your Committee are therefore decidedly of the 
opinion, that the Jail should be in the City, and upon 
a part of the present site in Leverett Street. It has 



1841.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 25. 9 

already been there so long, that the neighbourhood 
has become accustomed to it, and property has taken 
its value in reference to it. 

Upon the plan proposed, not more tlian one- 
fourth or one-third of the land will be needed for 
the jail and keeper's house. Tiiis will leave the pre- 
sent keeper's house, the Court house, and at least 
twenty-five thousand feet of land to be sold or leased. 
And though it may be said that if the jail is removed 
to South Boston, the whole cf the estate might be 
sold, — yet, on the other hand, if sufficient ground 
for the Jail were taken from the House of Industry, 
it niiglit be necessary to purchase mere for that 
Instiuition, and at what prices, the Council has al- 
ready hnd some intimation. 

As to the cost of construction, though at South 
Boston, the labor of the House of Correction might 
be used to advantage, — yet in Levcrett Street, a 
large quantity of materials is already upon the 
grojind. 

Your Committee accordingly do not hesitate to 
recommend a portion of the estate on Leverett street 
as the best site for the new .Jail. 

3. As to the best disposition of the remainder of 
the estate, — the Committee authorized to build the 
Jail, should be also empowered to have the residue 
of the land not wanted for a Jail, divided into lots 
and sold. The buildings now on Leverett Street 
could also be sold, or leased until a iavorable sale 
could be made. 

Your Conunittce have thus expressed their views 
and the decisions to which they have rrrived. They 
believe the work in question an important one, and 
that the time has arrived to complete it. 'I hey be- 



10 LEVERETT STREET JAIL. [Dec. 

lieve, in a pecuniary point of view, that the proceeds 
of land and buildings not wanted, will more than 
build the Jail. And they further believe that if the 
present Council could give a decided expression of 
opinion, the work would be completed before another 
year. They accordingly submit for the action of the 
present Council, the accompanying Resolutions. 

For the Committee, 

JONA. CHAPMAN, Chairman. 



1841.] CITY DOCUMENT.— No. 25. 11 

Resolved^ That the present Jail in Leverett Street 
is unworthy of the City of Boston, and ought to be 
removed. 

Resolved, That a new Jail, after the model now 
most approved, ought to be erected upon a portion 
of the site of the present Jail in Leverett Street. 

Resolved, That so much of the estate belonging 
to the City on Leverett Street, as is not wanted for 
the new Jail and Jailor's House, should be sold, and 
the proceeds applied to the erection of the new Jail. 

Resolved, That it be recommended to the next 
City Council, to enter early upon the work, in order 
that the Jail in the City of Boston may not be again 
presented by a Grand Jury. 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



014 077 014 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 077 014 



Hollinger 

pH 83 

MiU Run F03.2193 



